Palestinian Faction Frees British Relief Official, Aide
The Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist group freed a British relief agency official and his Syrian aide Tuesday, five days after detaining them in this southern port city, Mustafa Saad, a Sunni Muslim leader, reported.
Peter Coleridge, 44, Middle East coordinator of the British relief agency Oxfam, and Omar Traboulsi, 31, appeared physically fit after members of Abu Nidal’s Revolutionary Council of Fatah drove them to Saad’s apartment in Sidon.
“We thank you for your hospitality,” Coleridge said in Arabic when they reached the apartment.
Abu Nidal’s guerrillas seized the two men Thursday while Coleridge was taking pictures of the Ein el Hilwa Palestinian refugee camp.
Coleridge told reporters Tuesday: “I made a mistake by not asking for a permission (to take pictures) from the authority in Ein el Hilwa. I know and respect the people who took us. There has been no kidnaping. . . . They were only applying security procedures.”
“We were well treated,” he said. Coleridge said his camera and station wagon were returned, but a security source said the Palestinians confiscated his film.
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